Black and White
by inktounge
Summary: Evy White is returning to Hogwarts after four years in the US. What happens when she realizes just how much has changed, including herself. Rating because of language and innuendo.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is my second real story that I'm relatively sure about.

**Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter, Hogwarts, the Marauders. Hell, I barely own the original characters, they own me!**

Evelyn White, or Evy, as she much preferred to be called, glared out of the train compartment's window at the scenery flashing by. She had boarded the Hogwarts express for the third time in her life that morning. It might have felt a little cooler if she weren't seventeen years old and returning to the school after four years in a completely different country. In addition, the circumstances would have a lot better if Evy had had friends to greet her.

Of course, Evy had had friends at Hogwarts, plenty of them. The fact was that Evy had fallen out of contact with all of those old friends. That didn't mean she didn't remember them, though.

First, there had been Erin Lowell. Erin had been a mini busybody. She was a Ravenclaw and always at Evy to pay attention in class and do her homework. She had been a chubby, bubbly little girl for all her seriousness in the classroom. If Evy recalled correctly, Erin had possessed curly light brown hair and bright blue eyes. She had been one of those people that knew everyone and everyone's business without being annoying, or overly nosy, about it. Erin had also been one unfailingly kind person. Evy had felt it was her duty to take Erin under her wing before people began to take advantage of Erin's personality.

Next was Lily Evans. Lily was in Gryffindor with Evy, but she should have been in Ravenclaw. She was just as smart as Erin was, and even more academically driven. Lily had always been a strong, fiery individual. Her sweet, oval-shaped face had been capped by fiery red hair a shade all its own. Her eyes had been just as memorable as her personality. They had been a lovely shade of pickle green. Evy had teased her constantly about the color. She had called Lily anything from 'Pickle-face' to 'my lovely pickle darling.'

Last had been Loeisa Hartwin. Loeisa, whom Evy had dubbed Loey fifteen minutes after their first meeting, had been like Evy in the fact that neither particularly enjoyed classes. In fact, Loey had hated class and the only reason that the poor girl had passed first and second year exams was the tutoring that she had received from her best friends. She was tall and naturally athletic, even at the young ages of eleven and twelve. Evy didn't really recall Loey's hair color. The girl had always kept her hair tied back in a tight ponytail. Evy vaguely recalled it being sandy blond or light brown. Something like that. She remembered her eyes, though. A deep, rich, bright brown.

Evy herself, on the other hand, was academically gifted but was as far from driven as one could possibly get. She was good in all of her classes though. It was a matter of pride for Evy to get good grades. She just despised the actual classes. Evy was more of the assertive type, and the forcefully tame and exceptionally dull atmospheres of the classroom bored her to death. The only classes she had ever enjoyed were Care of Magical Creatures and Potions. Care of Magical Creatures was outside and a completely hands-on type of class. There was very little bookwork involved in such an environment. Potions might have a lot of text-reading, but it was also hands-on. Back in the U.S., the Potions mistress had given her students chances to experiment. Even six years ago, during Evy's first year, she had preferred those sorts of classes. At the time, Evy had been a tiny, dark brown– haired, stubborn little girl. Not much had changed.

There had been more, but Evy had been closest to those three. It wasn't as if Evy had the most engaging personality. Her friend, Laura, from the United States, had once described her as a very 'pinapple-ly' person: Sweet and loveable on the inside, and painful on the outside. She had later retracted the part about Evy being loveable. Evy had thrown the remains of a rather unsuccessful attempt at a banana shake down her shirt. She disliked being referred to as anything so girly as 'lovable'. She wondered what Laura was doing now.

The memories of her best friends also brought back memories of Evy's worst enemies.

Top of the list were the self-styled 'Marauders'.

Now there was a- well, Evy really didn't know what to call that group of raging testosterone (even when they were all so young, they seemed to have an issue with that particular hormone). 'Special' would probably work just fine.

The Marauders were group of four boys that had dedicated themselves to causing all sorts of mischief and turning Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry upside down and inside out.

First and foremost was James Potter. Evy personally had nothing against Potter beyond the fact that he was an ass. The only other reason that Evy disliked Potter was his insatiable desire to drive Lily nuts. Potter was constantly trying to get Evy's best friend, Lily, to go out with him, even at twelve years old. Lily, of course, had turned him down at every turn. Then Potter had asked her at every other turn.

Second to James was Sirius Black. Black was just like Potter in the fact that he was a jerk. What made Black even worse than his best friend was his need to make fun of Evy. Black was abnormally tall for a young boy, and had teased Evy constantly for her short stature. Evy had also been one of Black's favorite targets for his practical jokes. More than once, Evy had woken up to find that her long dark hair turned pink.

The other two were more simple people, as Evy remembered them. There was Remus Lupin, a strange, quiet boy who was just as smart as Lily. It had always confused Evy that Lupin would hang around two troublemakers like Potter and Black. Evy could actually get along with Lupin; he was nice enough. He had possessed some rather odd habits, though. Lupin had disappeared every few weeks, and come back seeming ill and week. It had concerned Erin greatly and she had always made it a point to ask Lupin if he was okay.

Peter Pettigrew was the final addition to the little gang. He was an abnormally small and incredibly bizarre little boy. He had always reminded Evy of a rodent. Pettigrew was nothing like Potter, Black, and Lupin. He was barely average in his classes and wasn't talented in any way, shape, or form, when it came to setting practical jokes. Evy just got a bad vibe from the little boy who trailed his friends like a puppy on a leash.

Evy had just turned her mind to what she recalled from her first and second year classes when there was a loud thump that broke Evy from her reflections. Just as suddenly, the compartment door was slid open. Two bodies fell through the doorway, so closely entwined that Evy wasn't sure where one body began and the other left off.

Evy, rather miffed at having her comfortable solitude interrupted, cleared her throat to get the couple's attention. They jerked apart and Evy got a good look at both of them. The girl was a tall, leggy number that Evy was willing to bet had the brain capacity of a Siberian dwarf hamster. She was attractive, though: curvaceous, heart-shaped face, blue eyes, not-so-tastefully done make-up, and an over-the-top slutty outfit comprised of a micro-mini skirt and belly shirt tight enough to let anyone and everyone know that she was wearing a bright pink push-up bra. She sported a head of shining beach blond hair that must have come from a bottle.

The chick's male half was just as attractive, though in a more tasteful way. He was monstrously tall, somewhere between six-foot and six-foot four. He had shaggy black hair that fell into grey eyes that seemed to sparkle with repressed mischief. He was dressed in common muggle cloths: A pair of beat-up, obviously comfortable jeans, and a black tee-shirt with some muggle rocker band that Evy didn't recognize splashed across the front in violent colors. All in all, Evy was not particularly impressed. She had seen plenty of people just like these two in the U.S., including some of her best friends. She wasn't intimidated by good looks anymore.

The boy did look rather familiar though. . .

Evy didn't get a chance to puzzle it out, unfortunately, as the girl took the startled silence as a chance to complain. "Sirius, there's a girl in this compartment! You promised it would be empty!" The blond, who Andy mentally checked off as a bimbo, had a distinctively whiny voice. The name clicked in her mind, though. It was more than familiar. After all, Evy had just been reminiscing about that name, and the body attached to it, a few moments earlier.

Evy, who's temper was always quick to flare, couldn't help herself and spat, "You know, I hadn't realized that I wasn't in this particular compartment, minding my own business. Thank you for pointing that out to me." Evy smirked at the girl, whose face became puckered up with indignation as soon as she realized that Evy was being sarcastic. There was a solid pause between the time that Evy's voice stopped and the girl's dawning anger.

"It's okay, Mandy, I'll meet up with you later. Then we can pick up where we started." The boy reassured the bimbo with a small smirk. The girl didn't want that particular answer, though, and pouted. "Go on, I'll find you later, hon." She slumped, prettily, of course, out of the compartment. Evy couldn't miss the slap that Sirius delivered to her rear end. The girl, Mandy, turned back and gave the young man the most coy look that Evy had ever seen, and that was saying something.

The black haired boy turned back to Evy and fixed her with a measuring look of surprising intelligence. "Who, exactly, are you? You seem rather familiar, but you're obviously not from Hogwarts because I probably would have dated you because you're not that ugly."

Once again, Evy could not control the words dribbling out of her mouth like so much drool. "Do you have any idea how conceited that sounds, Black? Why in hell would I have gone out with you, anyway?"

Sirius's eyebrows flew to the top of his forehead. "White?" He had recognized her. It had only taken three and a half minutes.

_Damn it. I was hoping to play with his mind a little! _Evy thought to herself. "Figured it out, did you?" She sneered, a facial expression that she had actually learned from Sirius all those years ago. "It didn't take you nearly as long as I thought it would."

Black seemed unfazed as he continued to study the young woman lounging on the bench. That didn't stop him from tossing a cutting remark back at Andy, though. "Evelyn White, the Gryffendor Bitch, is finally back. I though your family had locked you up in Mungo's for good." He said this almost absently, as his mind was clearly caught up in other matters. His eyes were roving over Evy's form. Somehow, though, the look managed not to be that lascivious.

Evy stood up at that point. It wasn't that the remark had truly affected her; God only knew how many things had been said about her that were far worse than that. It was the simple fact that no other person on the face of the Earth could get under her skin like Sirius Black. Plus, she was a little uncomfortable with being looked over like a high-priced Barbie Doll being appraised by a professional collector.

While Sirius had done nothing overly aggravating, Evy didn't particularly trust herself not to hex the young man seven ways from Wednesday. She didn't really want to start the new term nearly killing someone. Even if it was Sirius Black, who deserved it.

(Sirius Black's POV)

Sirius couldn't smother his snicker as Evelyn White slid to her feet to stand in front of him. White hadn't been anywhere near tall four years ago, before she left for the U.S., and it appeared that her time away hadn't changed that fact. "My god, White, did you grow at all these past few years?"

White merely sniffed at him. "Better than having my head grow like yours did." Given that this particular compartment was one of the smallest on the train, White was standing a mere five inches away from him. Her face was an actor's mask of sarcasm and it was clear that the years hadn't changed anything between them. One good look at the girl's face, with that particular expression, reminded Sirius of the reasons for the pair's hostility. Sirius mentally pushed those thoughts from the forefront of his brain and returned his mind to evaluating the female in front of him.

Although she wasn't very tall, it wasn't as if Evelyn White hadn't changed at all. She still wore her hair long. And what lovely hair it was. Evelyn's hair had always captivated Sirius, even when he had gotten over his pre-teen crush on her. It was a rich dark brown that was nearly black at times, highlighted with gold streaks the next. In Sirius's opinion, the hair was Evelyn's best feature, and the object of quite a bit of his reminiscing over the last few moments. **(A/N: Hence the lengthy dissertation over a girl's hair. I try not to spend too much time on physical descriptions, even though there are a lot of them this chapter, but for some reason, Sirius is obsessed with Evy's hair. I don't know, I have the control of the keyboard, but the characters control me. I have no control whatsoever.) **In the period of White's absence, Evelyn's hair had reached the middle of the her back. It was thick and wavy and Sirius was reminded of the days when he had longed to run his fingers through it.

Sirius ripped his mind away from White's hair to study the rest of her. Her eyes were still that middling color between green, blue, and gray. Her face was thin and fine boned, and Sirius was reminded strongly of a fox. Her nose was a tad bit too long for her face, but that fact wasn't all that noticeable unless one was studying her extremely closely, as Sirius was doing now. Sirius was only slightly surprised to notice that Evelyn was wearing very little make-up and it was done up very tastefully. Sirius had always gotten the impression that American girls wore as much make-up as a two-dollar streetwalker. Not so, apparently. White was dressed very conservatively, too, compared to the American stereotype. A thick-strapped dark green tank top and a pair of dark wash blue jeans. The outfit belied the fact that White was very small framed. She only stood about five foot two, though she seemed to be made of mostly limbs.

In short, Evelyn White had grown up to be rather attractive. Sirius wasn't exactly surprised.

Sirius stood there, staring at Evelyn for some time when he decided that he had seen enough of her staring back at him. "As fun as this is, White, I actually have some things to do today besides have a staring match with you."

She didn't miss a beat. "As I recall, you were the one doing the staring, Black. And it's not as if I asked you to stay." She paused to consider for a moment, raising a delicately arched eyebrow, "Besides, what exactly do you have to do today, beside go make out with that girl. Mandy or whatever her name is." Evy was having issues recalling a girl whose name was Mandy from the old days.

Sirius paused as he turned towards the door. "'Make out'?"

Evy rolled her eyes. "Sorry, 'snog'."

"Oh, right. Well, amazingly enough, I do have something to do better than satisfy poor little Mandy." He turned away again, then turned back. "Wait, you don't remember Mandy, do you. That's why you couldn't remember her name." Sirius started laughing. "I can't believe you don't remember Amanda Blakely!"

Sirius wasn't remotely surprised to see Evelyn's jaw droop. "That was Amanda Blakely? In second year she was short and chubby and actually wore cloths that covered her body!" Evelyn was clearly shocked. "That blasted bimbo couldn't have possibly been Amanda Blakely!"

"Just wait until you see what else has changed, Evelyn." Sirius actually made it out the door and was about to close it when the irate voice floated after him.

"Don't call me Evelyn, you idiot."

Ah, it was if she had never left.

**(End of chapter #1)**

(Evelyn's POV)

Evelyn had replaced her comfortable Muggle clothing for her black Hogwarts school robes. It was odd being back in those clothing. Evy's school in the U.S. had had a uniform, of course, but it had consisted of a pleated, just above knee length, plaid skirt, white blouse, and dark green vest for the girls. For the boys, it had been simple black slacks, white dress shirt, and a dark green vest extremely similar to the girls'.

The American Wizarding community didn't wear robes like the European wizards did. They found it easier to blend in with the Muggles if they looked and acted more like them.

Evy had a lot more things on her mind than her outfit, though.

The American wizards also used a different brand of magic than Europeans did. They used a lot of wandless magic and more personalized spells. They did use wands, like all wizards, but they were not nearly so dependent on them. Evy was somewhat worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with her year mates. It wasn't that she didn't know as much as they did, it was that it was utterly impossible for her to know all the wand work that they knew. Evy had hope though. She would probably be able to skate by without having to show off the fact that she actually didn't know some of those spells that the others undoubtedly did.

So, she sat in her empty compartment and brushed up on her old incantations. Her wand saw more use in those few hours than it had in the last four years.

She was reading up on some fifth year level charms when there was a gentle knocking on her door. Evy glanced up, a faint line of frustration drawn between her eyebrows. Not to seem rude, that she would leave for later, she called, "Come in!"

A young woman stepped inside. Evy couldn't help but feel like she knew the girl. For god's sake, she certainly looked familiar. She had waist length dark auburn hair. She was of average height and was athletically skinny, without the easy grace and the almost painfully obvious confidence of a true athlete. The girl was about Evy's age and had a soft oval face complete with a somewhat freckly complexion; there were a set of concentration lines blooming in between her carefully groomed eyebrows. Everything clicked into place, though, when Evy looked into the girls wide, frog-green eyes.

"Lily!" Evy shrieked. "Oh my god, Lily! It's you!"

"I can't believe you came back, Evy!"

Evy leapt up from her place on the bench and the two girls embraced. "Oh my god, Evy, you're so short!" Lily pulled back to look down at Evy, who playfully glared back. Lily was at least five-foot-eight. She cut a willowy figure, though. Her shoulders were slightly bent from hundreds of evenings spent stooped over a book.

"Well, Dad decided to come back to work for the _Daily Prophet _and decided to transfer me back to Hogwarts. So here I am. Oh my god, Lily, you've changed so much!"

"Look who's talking about changing! I wouldn't have recognized you if Sirius hadn't told me it was you! How come you stopped writing!"

"Sirius?" Evy was momentarily hung up on the fact that Lily had used Black's first name. That never would have happened four years ago. Then she heard the rest of the question. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Lily! When I started my new school I got really caught up in it. Plus, I was a little concerned about my owl. I got a new one by the way! Silenus got eaten by some alligator in New Orleans."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "I guess that's okay then. I thought you had forgotten us over here." She looked away from Evy. Evy recognized the expression as the one that Lily used when she was trying to cover up old hurt. Evy felt an old guilt welling up inside her. She had always felt bad about abandoning her old friends.

"So don't spare any details, Lily! Tell me everything that's new around here! I need to catch up on four years of gossip!" Evy fought valiantly to bring the mood back to the bubbly atmosphere that came with reunions between old friends.

Lily smiled again. "Well, Erin is top of the year, as expected."

"Of course, that's not much of a surprise! She always was one of the most intelligent people in the entire school, even at twelve. I bet Loey is the Quidditch captain. She was always so good at that."

Lily frowned slightly. "Actually, Loey is the captain this year. Last year she wasn't, though. That was James, but since he's now Head Boy-"

"Wait," Evy cut her off, her eyes as big as dinner plates and her mouth hanging open in shock. "James Potter? That jerk? He was Quidditch captain and now Head Boy? That doesn't make sense. And why'd you call him James?"

Lily took a deep breath, like she was about to explode in Evy's face and her cheeks flared fire-engine red. Then she sighed and visibly took herself in hand. Evy got curious through her astonishment. What was with that reaction? "Look, Evy, some other things have changed since you left. James isn't as bad you think he is."

"Right."

"Evy- you wouldn't know."

"How much could that boy have possibly changed?"

"Evy, it's not like you would know!" Lily spat at Evy. "You left, remember?"

Lily slammed the door behind her as she marched out.

**A/N: Please review! I would really, really apreciate it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been forever since I've worked on this story. For that matter, it's been forever since I've worked on any of my stories. However, I have a bit of time on my hands do to the East Coast Blizzards, so I'm working on this story. To all readers of "Who would have thought it?", I am working on that one, too, but slower. I've run into a few road blocks that need to be taken car of, and I'm just flat out lazy. I have some ideas for this story though, so I'm doing more work on this one than the other. It's just gonna take a while to get to where I want to go. Hopefully, I'll actually get there. See y'all at the bottom!  
**

**Disclaimer: Do I really sound like I own this? Uh, no.  
**

Sirius proceeded down the crowded corridor, ignoring everyone, including Mandy, who stood, one hand braced on a compartment door, the other languidly pressed to her hip, chattering with one of her friends. He barely even registered the offended glower she sent his way from over her shoulder. On his part, the black haired young man stared thoughtfully at the floor beneath his feet.

Even the little first and second years, forced to scurry out of Sirius's way, could tell that his mind was fairly far from his body. In fact, though none of the kids knew it, his mind was all the way back in that tiny compartment, focusing mainly on the feisty brunette.

Sirius smirked to himself, _At least I got the last word in. Well, basically._ Sirius hardly counted Evelyn's blustered call as the 'last word.'

It only took a few moments for him to reach his intended destination, the one compartment that Sirius and his fellow Marauders had inhabited for the last six years. His friends were already inside. Sirius slid down onto the seat nearest the window, sparing a moment to return the nod of greeting from the boy who sat opposite him before turning his face to the window and again immersing himself in thoughts of a tiny brown haired twelve year old who would stand nonchalantly and yell insults in his face without batting an eye.

The boy now seated across from Sirius had looked up from his textbook when Sirius had walked in. He had opened his mouth to say something, tossing his dirty blond hair away from his pale blue eyes, but had stopped when he saw the nearly blank expression on Sirius's face. It was an expression that spoke of deep thought, a state of mind that was frankly quite rare for Sirius Black.

Just as the blond haired boy tried to think of something to start a conversation and figure out what had Sirius so distracted, and actually _thinking_, the door slid open again, and two more boys strolled into the compartment. "Remus, why are you always in here reading? Don't you do anything else?" The taller of the two asked, nonchalantly, as her slumped into an empty seat. The other boy, much smaller and clearly less self-confident, settled gingerly on his own seat, next to Sirius, but very close to the door, as if part of the group, but not quite.

"James, if it weren't for me reading all the time, where would you find all those potions that you use in your pranks." The boy, glaring over at James, who ran a hand through his already messy black hair, rolled his eyes.

"Remus, don't try to say that as if you don't participate at all. You do more than Peter over there." James gestured at the boy in the far corner.

"Whatever you say, James." Remus turned back to his book, effectively cutting off that line of conversation. His relief from James's prattling was short-lived.

"Moony, what's up with Padfoot?" James asked, as he finally caught sight of the vacant-faced Sirius.

Remus sighed and glanced up, "He appears to be deep in thought."

"Sirius? Our Sirius? Is he drunk?" James's jawed dropped and his eyes snapped wide with astonishment, tinged with sarcasm.

"That's what I was wondering, but he isn't swaying, so I assume he's sober."

Just then, as suddenly as James and the hitherto silent Peter had arrived, the door opened and Lily Evans swept into the boys' compartment.

"Hey Lils," James smiled up at his girlfriend, the affection glowing from his hazel eyes. After a moment, he processed Lily's expression. "You okay?"

"No."

"What's wrong?" James asked, his brow creasing with worry.

Lily was prevented from answering by a ringing voice filling the compartment. "We will be arriving at Hogwarts in twenty minutes, please gather your belongings and be sure to change into your uniforms before disembarking."

Lily sighed. "I'll tell you later. I have to go make sure the first years are okay. Remus, coming?" She didn't wait for a response from the skinny blond young man before glancing around at the other three, "You all should change." Without a pause, she turned on her heel and proceeded out the door, her face set in its usual businesslike mask of stern-yet-kind. James had always found it an infuriating combination.

Sirius, lost in his own mind, reached up to grab his cloths from a knapsack before throwing it to James. Peter, short as he was, climbed on top of the seat to get at his trunk to search for his own uniform. James, unable to think of something to say to jar Sirius out of his reverie and unwilling to deal with Peter's dim wits and hero worship, stayed silent.

Twenty-five minutes later, the three boys were joined by Lily and Remus in one of the many horse-less carriages. James, seeing the line of irritation between Lily's eyes, carefully asked, "So what was wrong on the train?"

"Evy came back."

"Hmm? Evy?" James asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, remember my best friend from first and second year? The short one who hated your guts?" Lily rolled her eyes. James was smart and all, but not one for remembering people.

"Oh. Right, the one who Sirius…." James trailed off, putting two and two together in his mind. "I assume that you had a run-in with her, too, Sirius?" James glanced at his friend. Sirius's face had darkened.

"She hasn't changed one bit. Just as insufferable and annoying as when she was twelve, and just as short." The last was said with a definite note of triumph. Sirius, being just over six feet tall, look a certain pride in his height and occasionally had an issue acknowledging people who were vastly shorter than he was. Usually, that trait only showed up when Sirius was dealing with people of the male species, but, apparently, he made an exception with Evelyn White.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you-" He was cut off by a sharp glare from Sirius. His eyebrows remained raise however, and Sirius looked away.

Lily didn't miss the exchange, and was bewildered. Clearly, she hadn't missed the implications, but really, she wasn't willing to deal with them right now. She dismissed it and sent the scene into the back of her mind.

"She really hasn't. She came in and refused to even let me explain that I'm with you, James. She's still hung up on things that happened five years ago. "

Remus quietly pointed out, "Well, a lot of things have changed since she left. It's not all her fault." Sirius and Lily turned to stare at him. "What would you say if you were the one to have left and came back to find her dating Sirius?" Remus ignored the pained glare from the boy in question.

"I'd probably faint." Lily said, laughing despite herself.

"Exactly," Remus continued, "she experienced that. And from what I remember, Evelyn was more the screaming and yelling type that the fainting type."

Lily spluttered before subsiding. "I guess you're right. Still…"

"Oh, we're here." Peter said, and jumped out of the carriage, scurrying to reach his stuff.

**A/N: So here we are, at the bottom. Next chapter will be soon, I promise. I'm getting started on it right now, and as long as I don't get interrupted, it'll only take me a couple hours.** **Review, My Darlings!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So here's the next chapter, everyone. Please read and review, I love reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Um, no. That's all I have to say on the matter. No. I don't own Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Hogwarts, or the other Marauders. However, as I just recalled, I do own Evy, Loey, and Erin. Also, the idea for American magic being what it is.**

Evy stepped into the Great Hall. She stood in the open doorway to soak it all in. It had been so long since Evy had last seen the bewitched ceiling and the gold plates and real silver silverware. In America, there hadn't been this many students, and the school hadn't had the recourses that the several century-year-old Hogwarts castle had.

She made her way through the crowd of swarming students towards the Gryffindor table. She settled down at an empty place setting, and looked around. All around her, people were meeting up with those that they hadn't seen over the summer holidays. People were exchanging hugs and smiles and greetings with everyone else. And there was Evy, alone. Evy felt a wave of awkwardness washed over her. She stared down at her plate until she felt a hesitant tap on her shoulder.

Evy turned, expecting a younger student asking her to slide down a space, but instead saw a young woman with a head of bouncy brown curls and a shocked expression. "Oh my good gracious gee! It really is you, isn't it!"

Evy felt her eyes bulge and her jaw drop. "Erin? Is that you? Oh my god, Erin! It's so good to see you!" She sprang to her feet to wrap her arms around her old friend, returning Erin's embrace.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back, Evy?" Erin held Evy away from her. From her expression, Evy felt like a moth skewered to an example card.

"Well, I wasn't sure you all would want to talk to me…." Evy said in a small voice.

"Why wouldn't we? We all may have wanted it, but we couldn't really expect you to keep in touch over four years! I remember you barely ever wrote home except when you were forced to!" Erin laughed and released Evy. "Well, we'll catch up more later, I'm a Prefect, so I actually have to sit at my table." Erin smiled and departed, leaving Evy to chuckle over how little Erin had changed.

Evy settled to the bench again, only to be grabbed from behind.

"Evelyn Lilith White!" Evy was wrapped in a hug so tight, she thought her head would pop right off. She made a feeble attempt to get whoever was holding her hostage to let her go. After a breathless few moments, the arms loosened, and Evy was able to pull away.

Standing in front of her was a very tall, very smiley young woman, with dirty blond hair in a messy pony tail and sleeves pushed unceremoniously up to her elbows. Behind the enormous smile and surprisingly intimidating height, Evy recognized her old friend, Loey Hartwin.

The other girl grabbed Evy's arm, and pulled her down, once again, to the bench. "I can't believe you finally came back, Ev, it's been so long! How were the Americans? You're going to have to tell us all about it."

Evy laughed, there just wasn't any room to get around Loey's personality to be awkward. "I'd tell you all about it if you only let me get a word in!" She assured.

However, she never managed to tell Loey much of anything, as the opening ceremony got underway, and the Great Hall fell into anticipatory silence. The first years all filed in, were sorted into their respective houses, and settled down at the tables. Evy couldn't help but feel immense relief that she didn't have to get Sorted again. It would have been a humiliating experience to be pulled up in front of the entire school.

Her relief was short lived, however. Dumbledore, as he was finishing his start of term remarks, said "Oh yes, and for our returning seventh year, Evelyn White, Professor McGonagall would like to see you after the feast." Evy felt her face burn bright red as the entire Gryffindor table turned to look at her. From about halfway down, Evy caught sight of Lily laughing, and Sirius Black smirking. Evy took comfort in the fact that Lily's smile was nowhere near snide.

"So what's changed, Loey? Are you Quidditch Captain?" Evy asked as the dishes before them filled with a feast fit for kings.

"This year, yeah." Loey nodded as she spooned up mashed potatoes. "James Potter was last year, but Head Boy can't be affiliated with one specific team. What?" Loey turned to catch sight of Evy's grimace.

"Has that boy grown up? Or is Lily just insane?" Evy queried, skepticism coating her words like honey on the comb.

"No, he's changed. I mean, I never had such an issue with him like you and Lily had, but he's grown up."

"Really? When and how in the world did that happen? Four years ago, I'm pretty sure there was no light at the end of that tunnel." Evy, satisfied that Loey was sure, returned to her dinner.

"Mmm, probably during fifth year. Lily started outright ignoring him, and he didn't like that very much, so he stopped acting like a prat all the time. He even stopped hexing the Slytheryns all the time. He still does, of course, just not so covertly. There isn't much help for Sirius, perhaps, but James is better. He is Head Boy, now, of course." Loey said absentmindedly.

"What about the others?"

"Oh, Remus is a good egg. He's gotten a little quieter, I think, though, and he's still sick all the time. Peter's still a manipulative mastermind disguised as a dunce, and Sirius is probably even worse by your standards than he was as a twelve-year-old. He is a hell of a beater, though."

Evy laughed. Trust Loey to judge someone by their Quidditch skills.

And that reminded her of something.

"Loey, I have something I want you to see, later, kay?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"I learned some things over in America. Did you know that the U.S. is the top for innovations in broomstick design?"

"Is that right?" Loey asked, having absolutely no clue where Evy was going.

"Well, I had the opportunity to tamper with some brooms and I want you to test them for me."

"That's it? I was hoping you'd brought me something really cool." Loey said, disappointed. "But sure, I'll try 'em out. When?"

" I don't know, I don't have a schedule yet. Speaking of, I should head up to Mickey's office." Evy said, whipping the roll in her hand around her plate rim to catch the last drips of gravy. She had just seen the Transfiguration professor stand up and leave the Great Hall via the teacher's entrance.

"Mickey?" Loey asked.

"McGonagall. I used to use that all the time. Did you really forget?" Evy raised an eyebrow. It had been her favorite nick name for a teacher.

"No, but I haven't exactly heard it for a long time." Loey said quickly. Evy felt a prick of suspicion. Loey was nothing if not completely untutored in subtlety. She dismissed it, however, and stood up. "I'll see you in the dorm."

Loey nodded as Evy made her way out of the Hall, and towards the staircases.

Evy made her way up the staircases, amazed that she still knew her way to the Deputy Headmistress's office.

There, she knocked carefully on the door. "Come in!" came the answer.

Evy stood in front of the desk, feeling only slightly awkward. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, take a seat, Miss White." Evy did so, looking expectantly at the ever-neat woman behind the desk. "I understand that you took some examinations in your fifth year at your school in America. I have been assured that those were the equivalent of the Ordinary Wizarding Levels here at Hogwarts. However, I would like you to spend tomorrow with our teachers testing your knowledge to see how behind or ahead you are in the average seventh year curriculum."

"Tomorrow? Okay, that'd be fine. I am a little concerned." Evy began, biting her lip.

"About what, Miss White?" the professor blinked.

"The American style of magic is, er, different from the European style."

"How so?"

"Well, we, or they, don't really rely on wands, and potions are much more crucial, as well as runes and mind magic. Only the elite of the elite can use as much mind magic as a second year American student." Evy shrugged, pride creeping into her voice her adopted country.

McGonagall nodded. "I see, we'll have to see how you do tomorrow to gauge what classes you should be put in. You do still have and use your wand, yes?"

"I did use it back in America, just certainly not as much."

"Very well. Report to me tomorrow directly after breakfast. As each of our teachers has their own classes, you will be passed off to each of them in turn. Have a good evening, Miss White." Evy took that as her signal to leave and stood up, heading for the door. "Oh Miss White," came from behind her. "If you would, please try not to fight with Mr. Black. I can't deal with as many detentions as the two of you had, your second year."

Evy turned to see her teacher, smiling slightly behind a strained mask of stern reproach.

She smiled hugely, "I'll try, Professor."

She had always liked Mickey.

**A/N: As I said above. I like reviews! I like them a lot. I don't beg often, but I am right now! REVIEW! Please....**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, I was going through my Documents folder on my computer and realized that I had this chapter that was completely ready to be uploaded as a chapter and, somehow or other, never made it onto the site. Sorry guys. Oh, and I'll be putting up another chapter for this story tomorrow, I just have to run through it and make some edits. YAY for getting something done! :P**

**Disclaimer - I've said before, and I'll say again, NOT MINE. Well, some of it is, but most of it isn't, so there.  
**

Evy hovered uncertainly in the door, watching her roommates as they went about unpacking. In the States, Evy had shared a single room with one girl on a corridor of like rooms. In fact, her last year at the Academy had been spent alone, in one of the rare singleton rooms. Now, she was expected to room with five other girls. Oh boy.

Slowly, hesitantly, Evy made her way to the bed where her things had been placed by the oh-so-helpful elves. So far, she had gone unnoticed. The other girls in the large circular room were far too busy catching up to notice Evy.

Evy couldn't help but listen to the conversation. Their version of 'catching up' consisted mostly of chattering, giggling, squealing, and being generally obnoxious, as far as Evy was concerned. She glanced up from her open trunk to observe three girls, all three of which were currently attired in bras, their uniform skirts, and their stockings. Evy snorted_. It's like an American boy's wet dream in here._ She thought to herself.

Making any sort of noise, however, was a mistake on Evy's part. The three girls all turned, like one creepy unit, to look at Evy. The one closest to Evy's position by her bed stared. "Who are you, a transfer student?" She asked, her voice bitter and pointed, as sneering as Sirius's ever was, though, Evy noticed, far from as skilled.

Evy stuffed down the urge to roll her eyes. This girl was so stereotypically queen bee bitch. She was tall, ridiculously slender, and had a head of hair of glossy brown waves with reddish highlights that, given the mousy roots making their appearance, had come from a bottle. Evy would bet her family's entire life savings that the girl's smile was blazing white and even. In short, the girl was a cardboard cut-out with probably about as much intelligence.

Evy breathed deeply, trying to stifle her temper. She couldn't remember the chick's name, but the reality was that she was going to have to sleep in the same room as her for the entire school year. It was best not to make enemies quite so soon. Especially if they were enemies who she didn't remember from an eternity ago.

"Evy White, I'm transferring back."

One of the other two girls jumped in. This one was just as cookie-cutter as the first with platinum blond hair that must have taken an hour to style into loose curls and shiny blue eyes that glinted with insipidness. "Oh really? Well why weren't you Sorted?"

Evy waited for a moment. Surely, that was not what the girl had meant to say. Sure, the tone of voice the girl used wasn't exactly friendly, but…. Really, it had sounded like the blond was trying to be subtly insulting. Well, fail at that.

"I was here first and second year, and now I'm being transferred back here to Hogwarts." Evy said slowly, keeping her tone as even as possible. "I'm really sorry, but I don't remember your names. I'm sure I knew them at one time, but I'm just not good at remembering people who aren't quite up to my radar." Evy really needed to work on her control. The three girls, however, appeared to miss the subtle implications in Evy's words.

"Well, I'm Rebecca Wheeles," the first brunette introduced herself before gesturing at the blond, "and this is Holly Brown, and that" she continued to sweep her arm towards girl number three, the other brunette, this one with a shade closer to honey that appeared on first observation the be natural, "is Sarah Conolly."

"Ah, now I remember you." Evy nodded to herself, because she actually had. "Your hair dye made it difficult, Rebecca, though those roots should have been a giveaway." Evy turned back to her trunk and began removing her robes to hang in the tall wardrobe beside her bed.

Rebecca blustered, but was cut off by the door opening to admit Lily and Loey. Evy smiled with relief, before the memories of her earlier encounter with Lily caused her spine to stiffen with anxiety once more.

"You're not causing trouble already, are you, Ev?" Loey asked, an easy smile curving her lips. "Hey Rebecca, how was your summer? Weren't you supposed to be going to California?"

Rebecca perked up. "Why, yes, I did go to California. Have you ever been to the States, Evy?" The look Rebecca shot Evy clearly spoke to Rebecca's real meaning. _Have you ever been some place as awesome as the U.S. you provincial peasant? _Again, Evy fought to control her laughter. There was no way Rebecca knew what 'provincial peasant' meant.

"A time or two, yeah." Evy couldn't really help her tone of voice. After all, it is known to be quite difficult to control oneself.

Loey snorted lightly from her bed, where she had flopped unceremoniously. Evy noted with some relief that it was right next to her own. Lily's was on the other side. "Evy here went to school in America for four years. Didn't you, Evy?"

"Mhmm."

"Really?" chorused from two of the bimbos. (_Well that's bit uncharitable_, Evy mentally chided herself. _After all, it's possible to be a ditz and not a bimbo.)_ Rebecca merely gaped, now relegated to the sidelines. "You went to school in America?"

"Yup." Evy made her way to the bathroom to store her toiletries. It was as much to escape the questions from the girls as it was to simply unpack.

She was followed however, and was about to turn and snap when she noticed it was Lily. "Um," she began, awkwardly, but was stopped by an awkward lump in her throat.

Lily beat her to it, though. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened on the train. I was out of line and everything. How could you possibly -"

"Oh no," Evy burst in, "it's my fault. I really shouldn't have dismissed him like that, and I'm sorry I didn't try harder to keep in touch, and all that stuff. I'm so sorry!"

The girls drifted off into silence. Then, as if a light had been flipped, they smiled and laughed. "Can't stay mad, can we, even in when it's a major row." Lily wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Guess not." Evy laughed, weakly.

Suddenly, the two girls were engulfed in a hug so tight, Evy thought her head would pop off like a doll's. Once release, she looked up to see Loey's beaming face. "Thank Merlin's hairy arse! I'm so glad that was cleared up so fast!"

Sirius tossed his robes into his closet, ignoring them as they fell into a heap on the floor. He growled as he thrust his hand back into his trunk. "You know hate I hat most about the first day of school? The unpacking."

Since he had said roughly the same thing every year since their second, the other four boys in the room ignored him. Remus, who was already completely unpacked, had his nose, once again, buried in one of his books. James was hanging his robes, and Peter was practicing some charm or another. Frank, ever the tidy, was carefully folding some article of clothing. This was all normal.

Sirius sighed and dropped his trunk back on the floor, promising himself he'd finish later. He dropped on his bed, rolling to his back.

Remus looked up from his book. Sirius was sprawled across his bed, lost in some sort of thought. Obviously, it was not a very happy one, considering the wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. "What's still bothering you, Padfoot?" He asked, his voice quiet, so as not to be noticed by the room's other occupants, but pitched to float across the space between beds.

"I don't know what you're babbling about, Moony." Sirius continued his staring match with the canopy.

"Does her being back bother you that much?" Remus wasn't actually that surprised when he received a glare for an answer. Nor was he particularly surprised about what Sirius's whole manner actually meant.

Sirius had been through girls like water through sand, saturating each individual grain, and many all at once, in the blink of any eye. It had all started about mid third year, when a fifth year had asked him to one of the school's random dances. Remus had been friends with Sirius for far too long, however, and knew better to believe that Sirius cared a wit about any of those girls.

In fact, the only female that Sirius had ever shown anything more than a passing interest in, romantic or otherwise, had been Evelyn White. He had spent hours during first and second years complaining about this and that Evelyn had done. He would agonize angrily over some choice phrase from her; he would plot and plan pranks that that never came out quite as harsh and cruel as they were planned. For all that he seemingly hated her, Evelyn White was never that far from Sirius's thoughts.

Over the last few years, of course, she had faded from most people's memories. Even Sirius had let her pass from his mind, in favor of the twits who fawned over his every step. But now…. Now, Evelyn was back.

From Sirius's bunk came a sigh, and Remus looked over to see the back of Sirius's head. Clearly, the boy wasn't really in the mood to talk. Remus found himself rolling his eyes. Sirius was never one to talk, anyway, at least not at first. Sirius would probably spill it all in a week or two. That was generally Sirius's limit.

Apparently not this time.

Sirius flopped back over, his grey eyes piercing Remus'. "I don't understand. It's been four years, right? We're both seventeen now, and she can still make me feel like she did back then." Sirius threw his hands toward the ceiling, "Ah! She's so annoying!"

This last was not nearly as quiet as the rest of the brief conversation had been, and it resonated throughout the room.

Four pairs of eyes fixed on him: three startled, one amused.

"Alright there, Padfoot?" James called from the other side of the room.

Sirius just made an unintelligible noise, flopped over onto his stomach, and muttered, "NO!" A moment later, the curtains were snapped around the bed, and Sirius was no longer open for business.

**A/N: Well, what'd ya'll think? Any good? Don't be shy, I love reviews! Oh, and if anyone is interested in a Scorpius/Rose story, check out my "Who Would Have Thought It?" It's actually on a bit of a break right now, cause I'm having trouble with a chapter, but I'd love reviews and readers and ideas for IT too.**

**Anyway... REVIEW if you read. Oh, and leave suggestions for good stories on this site, or good books in the real world. I'm having issues finding one's I haven't read XP.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Alright guys, I got one review for the last chapter. And I know more than one person (Thank you, **jazi12amaze, I love you!) **read the chapter, cause I got at least three Alert notices. I mean, I love when people put an Alert on one of my stories, but, really, I'd probably love a review more. I mean, I love feedback, even if it's criticism. Constructive criticism anyway…**

**Anyway, chapter five. This chapter turned out quite a bit different then I originally intended. But more about that later, cause now ya'll have to read.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own a thing. 'Cept Evy, and American magic, cause that ALL came from my head. **

The morning found Evy blinking into the one ray of early morning sunlight that managed to penetrate her bed curtains and fall directly over her eyes. Finally, after realizing that no matter which way she turned, the sun was determined to be annoyingly bright and hot, Evy hauled herself to a sitting position, reached out between the curtains, and grabbed her timepiece. It showed the big hand on the twelve and the little hand on the six. What the hell was up with that?

After collapsing back to her pillow, and making a valiant effort at going back to sleep for however long she had (an hour) before needing to get up to get up for the day, Evy crawled out of her bed. A few moments of deliberation, interspersed with several minutes of staring mindlessly into the sunshine, had Evy heading into the bathroom for a shower.

Evy had always loved showers, and, truthfully, couldn't start her day without one. Her hair, while long and thick, was very fine, and clumped disgustingly when it wasn't properly washed. Plus, there was nothing like a steaming hot gush of water to sooth and gently usher one into the state known as wakefulness.

Twenty minutes later, Evy emerged to find her dorm mates still fast asleep and the sun more prevalent. She dressed and dried her hair (handy little spell, that), and realized that that really did not take nearly enough time.

It was 6:30 in the morning and Evy had nothing to do.

Suddenly, the last night popped back into Evy's brain. What was today? Oh yeah, testing.

Evy, taking care to be quiet, snatched several books from her trunk and made her way down to common room. A few minutes of study was certainly in order.

And then, for no reason that Evy could discern, her quiet morning study session became an alarming rerun of the previous day's train ride.

Evy looked up from her text book to see Sirius Black sauntering across the common room. Thankfully, he didn't seem to see her.

The reprieve was short lived, however, because Sirius actually paused to ogle himself in a mirror. Evy couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing.

Sirius, appropriately surprised, jumped and turned towards her voice. When he finally fixed on her table all the way in the back corner of the room, his face was red, and his eyebrows drawn over his eyes in a scowl.

When he recognized the laughter as coming from Evelyn White, he paled, and stormed out of the portrait hole.

When Evy managed to control herself, she allowed herself a moment to meditate on how odd that was, but it didn't last long. Somehow, in the midst of her cackling, and it had been a truly lovely cackle, she had managed to dump an inkwell on her textbook. Sighing, she wracked her brain for a regular charm to clean the book. After several minutes of her exercise in futility, she gave up, and reverted to her American education.

She flipped that switch in her brain and sketched a sigil in the air above the ink stains. A moment later, the stains were gone, and the book once more clean. Evy sighed. She would miss that magic. It was so _easy._

Her reverie over how annoying European magic could be was cut short when Lily and Loey appeared and the three headed to breakfast, where they were joined by Erin, whose bubbliness managed to drive Lily up the wall. Loey threw bits of toast at poor defenseless first years and managed to concoct a horrible substance consisting of scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, and catsup and ate every drop of it.

As a person whose temperament was fairly even during the morning, Evy ended up laughing until her stomach hurt. It was so amazing to be back with these three. There was nothing like it.

Breakfast could only last so long, however, and In a disappointing amount of time, Evy found herself traipsing down the hall towards Mickey's office wondering what exactly she would have to do for testing.

McGonagall was waiting for her behind a stack of papers a mile high. Apparently, Evy had greeted the pile with quite a face, because the teacher looked up and gave a chuckle. "No need to look so frightened, Miss White, these are for you to deal with. Please come and take a seat."

Evy blinked and followed direction, sitting gingerly in the chair she had used the previous evening. After a few moments, Mickey set her quill aside and looked up.

"Now, you're testing. It will consist of each of the major teachers asking you to perform a series of spells or other tasks to ascertain if you need to undergo any remediation. I will, naturally, be taking care of the transfiguration section of your testing." The professor stood, "If you'll follow me, Miss White."

Evy followed Mickey into a small room just off the office. When she glanced at the older woman with an inquiring look, the teacher explained, "This is the room where students who need – extra practice – receive the necessary tutelage."

Evy nodded in understanding, then a thought popped into her head. An eyebrow crept up, "do you think I'll have such horrible control, Professor."

The professor said only, "One can never be too careful, Miss White."

The testing began quite simply, with a rehash of the first year class. Evy had always had to work at Transfiguration, but her time in the U.S. had made it much easier to do things like turn a pin into a match, and a hedgehog into a pincushion. Really, Evy was surprised at how easy it had all become.

The testing for Transfiguration was over fairly quickly, as McGonagall came to realize that Evy was quite proficient, even if she might need a prompt or two from time to time.

At the forty-five minute mark, McGonagall ran out of the normal testing things, and sat staring at Evy from across the table. Evy was just beginning to squirm when the teacher opened her mouth.

"Miss White, I'm not sure what your American education entailed in the realm of Transfiguration. I remember when you were a student in first and second year. You were barely receiving A's. Clearly, the American methods have done you well."

Evy blinked. This was just a tad bit different from what she had expected. It almost sounded as if Mickey was fishing for teaching ideas! "Well, the American's concentrate a lot more on, well, magic itself, rather than wand motions, I suppose. It's just different. I don't think most of the methods could be taught to the students here unless they start young."

"It's different how?"

"Um, well, it's just a different approach to magic in general."

McGonagall clearly didn't really understand.

Evy tried again, "Magic in the America's is more," she groped for a descriptive, "more a part of the actual person."

"Explain that, please."

The breath escaped through Evy's teeth. She hunched her shoulders over her hands, which were folded on the table. Finally, she said, "Well, magic is what makes a witch or wizard what they are, right? So it stands to reason that magic is something that is actually inside a person. Americans, because of the Native American and African influences, (there are whole courses on this, by the way,) have developed methods of accessing the magic inside and using it, without the prerequisite wand."

"Native and African influences, you say?"

"Of course. If you look at the magic from those groups, they do a lot of rituals and, well, herbology, really. They might use a staff, or a wand of sorts, but it's all for channeling the magic within, and in some cases, calling the magic outside." After a moment of thought, she added, "Magic over there is really a study of mastering your own intentions, because that Is what, ultimately, guides the magic."

McGonagall blinked. She seemed genuinely surprised. "That is very interesting. No wonder American Wizarding schools go to eighteen."

A grin quirked Evy's mouth, "There are even Universities devoted to it."

"Indeed. Well then, how does American magic stack up to European?"

Evy had to consider the question. "Well, it's just different, really. They're both difficult, each in its own way, and both have their advantages. For example, I'll never need a wand to actually do something, nor an actual incantation. However, I had to learn a ridiculous number of sigils and runes and I know more about potion ingredients and plants that I ever wanted to even consider." She paused, "It's more a matter of perspective, I think. European magic is certainly cleaner!" She grinned.

"I mean, they even study it differently over there. Classes are divided into Departments. There's Intention-type magic, which is the standard class that you have to take every year because just about everything can fall into that Department. That's where we would study out charms and transfiguration and the like. There's materials, which is putting magic into an object. That's a fun one, actually. There's Chemistry-type, which is potions. In my school, they used to put Materials and Chemistry in the same Department, but the school grew and classes got bigger." At this point, Evy shrugged, "The last two are Physical and Ritual. Ritual is dancing around a circle, prayers and chants, that sort of thing. The odds and ends fall under Physical. Care of Magical creatures would be there, and flying, and that sort of thing. We have a combative magic class that is awesome."

McGonagall blinked. "And how, exactly do you choose classes and the like?"

"Well, you don't really. The teachers do that. When I came in at third year, I had to play some major catch-up. I had a bunch of remediation because the intention stuff was so different."

She considered, "For a normal student, they're first two years are only in the Intentions Department. They have to learn control and the like. Third year they start mixing in things like Chemistry and Physical. Ritual and Materials are held until fifth year, because they can get really dangerous. Trying to infuse a piece of thread with light magic can get quite a bit more explosive than you would think." She snickered.

McGonagall finally started in with some truly intelligent questions. "What exactly does Ritual-type magic entail?"

"Uh, I never got that far with my classes, it never really caught my attention, but I have a friend who spirit-walks through History. That's the sort of thing that truly talented Ritual witches and wizards can do." She thought for a moment, "Ritual magic is actually dying out. It's harder to hide that sort of thing from the Muggles than things like Materials and Intentions."

The professor nodded. "Since it appears to have made up the majority of your education, what exactly did you study in this 'Intention-type' magic."

"A lot of meditation techniques at first, and then sigils and bending them to your will. We did a bit of wandwork, but not a lot. I knew more about using a wand than half the teachers in the entire school just coming out of second year."

"What can you do with sigils?"

"Just about anything. I can make an object levitate for hours on end without anything more than a sketch in the air, I can make a rampaging rhino freeze in its tracks, two objects stick together for ages. You name it, a sigil can do it. You don't need sigils all the time though, if you're really good at holding an Intention. I know a guy who can levitate himself with nothing more than a thought. I don't have the concentration for that, though." Suddenly, a though occurred to Evy. "Actually, Intention-type magic is a lot like the accidental magic that most kids do before they're ten. It's just a matter of control."

That last bit seemed to clear things up for McGonagall, as the professor nodded and moved on.

Evy was helping clean up after some of the critters used in the testing when McGonagall turned to her. "Miss White, I heard a story, once, that Native American wizards were highly proficient at turning into animals. Did you learn anything about that?"

Evy bit her lip, "Well, Americans have perfected shape-shifting. There was a course on it at the school. I understand though, that Europeans are a bit more – sensitive- on that subject."

"Animaguses are required to register with the Ministry, Miss White."

"Yes," Evy said carefully, "Well, in school, they had strict rules about that sort of thing, too. Besides, you have to have a special talent to manage shape-shifting. It's not a skill everyone manages to master."

Then there was a bell, and Evy was whisked off to Professor Flitwick's office, where Evy was put through the ringer once more. She only just managed to get through that one, however, as Transfiguration hadn't actually changed that much when it went overseas. The Natives were usually perfectly happy to leave well enough alone and never tried to change anything's form, unless it was their own, if they could help it. Transfiguration was mostly a European thing. Charms, on the other hand, was more than a tad bit different.

The American take on Charms was filled with intention-type magic. Evy had truly forgotten most of the incantations. The testing became a matter of _I'll do my magic in my head, and pretend I'm doing it silently._ It worked, for the most part. Flitwick was a very nice little man, and assured her, at the end of their hour together, that she would probably do fine in class, and to please come see him if she had any questions, whatsoever.

The next hour found Evy in the Potions classroom, where she was asked to prepare a NEWT level potion. Evy had never been more thankful to see a cauldron and recipe. Of course, she knew a few things about Potion-making (Chemisty-type magic) and was able to whip up the requested concoction with time to spare, making a few adjustments as she went. ("Who would cut a slimy bean? Ugh, stupid people. Just crush the damn thing and get it over with. And two spoons of beetles' eyes with one rat heart? That's not a balanced equation at all! Better put in three.") Professor Slughorn, the great piece of slime, was practically bubbling with joy over it.

"My dear girl, what talent! You simply must come to the little party I'm hosting next Sunday."

Evy had rolled her eyes, assured the man she'd think about it, and left for lunch. The girls were happily bemoaning their coursework, and Evy was once again sucked into memories of what it had been like as eleven and twelve year olds. The meal, naturally, didn't last that long, and the four had to hurry off to their classes.

Evy herself, went to go find her next teacher, which just so happened to be Professor Hardly, Defense Against the Dark Arts. That went smoothly, with Evy using the same methods she had to get around Flitwick. DADA had always been one of her favorite classes, though, and she had spent quite a bit of study time going over the incantations and such. She was surprised at how prepared she was.

After getting lost in a conversation about combative magic, the American kind, with the Professor, who had, apparently, been quite a practitioner back in the day, Evy was sent off to the Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Professor Tinley, a surprisingly young woman missing two fingers on her left hand, was friendly and happy to find that Evy knew quite enough of the subject to probably teach it.

"You must be very well read, Miss White."

"I just like animals, Professor, all kinds. And I've always liked being outdoors."

"That's lovely. Perhaps I can get you as a student aid?" Tinley offered, and Evy, uncertain of what she needed for classes anyway, left with a "You'd have to wrangle me from actual classes, Professor, though I'd love to, really I would."

Once again, she was off, this time to the greenhouses, where she was met by a Professor Leonne and her assistant, the young Professor Sprout.

This was another simple test that Evy passed with flying colors, assuring her teachers that she could easily handle the advanced level courses.

At the hour, Evy was sent on her way, this time she was headed back to McGonagall's office. There, she was called in and told quite simply that her schedule would be provided in the morning and please stay out of trouble for the rest of the day.

And so it was that Evy found herself wandering down to the Lake. Classes were, for the most part, still in session, and would be for another two hours. There was almost no one in sight, except for maybe the random first year hopelessly lost. The Black Lake was completely deserted and Evy picked a tree, flopped down, and put her back to it, enjoying the way the light was swallowed by the inky waters of Hogwarts' resident body of water and home to who knew what.

For a while, Evy just dozed against a root, but after a while, her boredom got the better of her, and she started looking around for something, anything, to catch her eye. Finally, her eye landed on the Forbidden Forrest, and a grin began to grow. It was about time for a bit of exploration.

Evy stood up, making sure there was no one in sight. Quickly, she began pulling off her robes, following them by underwear and bra. Quickly, and with another furtive look around, she folded her clothes, biting her lip at the chilly breeze coming off the Lake. Then, she closed her eyes, concentrating down and in. She wasn't that good at this yet, it still took a lot of work. Slowly, and with little twinges as bits and piece of her body began shrinking and changing, Evy began her shift.

When it was all done, a tiny brown cat with bright shiny eyes stood in the place Evelyn White. The first thing she did was such a cat thing, no one would have believed that she was actually a human girl. Evy washed her fur, turning around in that one pose that only cats ever seems to manage, and briskly ran her tongue over her fur.

After a few moments of vigorous primping, Evy finally set out towards the Forrest, trotting along, loving the feel of the wind through her fur. Of all the things that Evy appreciated about her American education, it was the power of shape-shifting. She wouldn't call herself and Animagus, because the magic was different, but still. It was nice to be something else from time to time.

Running was certainly more fun in just about any animal form than it was in human.

So she ran. The Forbidden Forest turned out to be a very nice place for this sort of run. There were plenty of fallen logs and mossy stones to make things interesting. Even if it was a bit chilly in the shadowy woods, it was a gorgeous place with sunlight punching through the thick foliage to make patches of warmth and splotches of depthless darkness. After a while, Evy grew loose and relaxed into the run, but she was no longer in true running shape, even in cat form. So, she made use of the sun patches and sprawled across a rock, enjoying the heat as it soaked into her fur.

That could only last so long, however, as time did eventually creep back into her world of sun and warmth. The sun shifted, bringing to mind the fact that the afternoon was drawing shorter. So, Evy dragged herself to her paws and made her way back to the outskirts of the woods. She didn't come out quite where she went in, though, and had to take a bit of a trip around the edge.

When she did finally make it back to the Lake, she was greeted by what she thought was an empty area. She sniffed around, finding only traces of things like squirrels and, curiously enough, a scent that reminded her ever so vaguely of the Labrador from back home.

And then she looked up.

Shit.

Walking down from the castle, his hands pushed into his trousers pockets, his eyes on the ground, was Sirius Black.

So not a good time. Evy, taking full advantage of her feline form, scrambled up a tree. It wasn't like Sirius would know it was her, but it would still be safer out of sight. She found her perch just in time, too, as Sirius appeared from around the trunk.

And that was the point that Evy realized she had forgotten something quite important.

Her clothes.

And right at the moment, Sirius noticed them.

Oh crap.

**A/N: And you all though…. What? Oh wait, I won't know unless you REVIEW. So, yeah, I guess I'm driving home the whole REVIEWING thing. **

**Anywho, about the chapter. This was originally going to be quite different. Unfortunatly, I realized that I couldn't sustain the story line I was steering it towards, so I had to do some switches. I promise, though, what comes next will be fun!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Well… review turn out for the last chapter was A BIT better, but I would really appreciate more. Seriously, I would hate to be one of those authors who refuses to update unless they get a certain number of reviews, but seriously… I might be considering….**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Yes, it makes me sad, too.**

Sirius scuffed his foot over a tree root, his mind lost in the puzzles known as prank - making. The beginning of year was always a big thing for the Marauders', and this was the four's seventh and final year. Due to certain events, namely a truly rough full moon that had left Remus incapacitated and weak for more than a week, the boys had been unable to plot a plan that would turn out as epic as it needed to be.

Really, quite frustrating.

Of course, that wasn't all that was frustrating. He didn't know why, but it had bothered him in the Common Room that morning when Evy had caught him fixing his hair in the mirror. Actually, what really bothered him, he had realized at some point earlier in the day, was the fact that White had laughed at him. Actually _laughed_ at him. Sirius prided himself on being amusing and entertaining, but, well, being laughed _at _had never sat well with him.

Sirius circled around his favorite tree, prepared to settle down in the embrace of its raised roots, when he found something already in his usual place.

_And what is this?_ Sirius thought to himself.

Sitting there in a neat little pile, looking innocent and innocuous, for all that it was so out of place, was a pile of clothing. Not just any clothing, but a girl's clothing, complete with lace edged panties and bra. _Interesting…_

Sirius, quite thoroughly distracted, looked around for the warm body that had lately been wearing such interesting articles of clothing. There was no one in the lake, and no one within easy view. Of course, she, whoever 'she' was, could have seen him come down and hidden, but, well, … hmm…

"I wonder what would happen if I took the clothes with me?" Sirius mused to himself, hoping that whoever had worn the clothes would be close enough to hear him. Any girl he had ever come into contact with would be at least somewhat perturbed to know that Sirius Black was about to steal her clothes. Knickers and all, too.

When no answer came, however, Sirius frowned. He shrugged and scooped up the pile of fabric. It was a tad ungainly to carry, as the billowy school robes were hard to keep folded, but that hardly prevented from gathering it all up and heading up towards the castle.

He didn't get far though, because a few feet past the tree, he heard a thump, a feminine gasp, and a "Sirius Black! Give me back those clothes!"

The voice was quite recognizable. Really, it brought back memories. "Evelyn White? Really? And what are you doing running around with no clothes? Have you become a little hippy in America?"

There was a growl from around the tree. "It's a Nudist, Black. Not all hippies, lived without clothing, and no, I didn't turn into either."

He stood there, mulling it over. "My mistake." He thought for another moment, "So, White, what are you going to do about the fact that I have all your clothing?" He couldn't help the grin on his face.

There came a loud, blustery sigh. "Why don't you tell me what it takes to get them back, Black?"

Sirius looked around, spying a tree very close to his position, and went to sit against it. "Now, now, Evelyn, I'm holding your clothes in my hand, every single piece of clothing you usually wear. You can probably call me Sirius."

She made a sound that sounded like a hiss. "Fine, _Sirius,_ I would really appreciate if you would tell me what I need to do to get my clothes back so I can put them on. I'm just a tad cold." Obviously, she hoped that would help her case.

Sirius's lip quirked, "If you come on out, I could warm you up." He offered, and wasn't disappointed with her reaction.

Evy shrieked. "Screw you, Black! Could I just have my clothes back?"

He laughed. She was irritating, but oh so fun to play with. "Fine, but first, you have to tell me why you didn't have them on in the first place."

Evy bit back some very choice words. She had shifted her fastest ever when she saw Sirius move towards the castle. If it had been anyone else, she probably wouldn't have really cared if they took her clothes. However, Sirius could have done any sorts of things with them. She could just imagine him posting them up somewhere in the school and asking whose they were. Granted, it wouldn't have mattered, cause it wasn't like Evy would have ever come forward for them, but she _really_ didn't want them show cased around the school.

She leaned her forehead against the tree trunk. "In my school in America, they had a shape shifting class. You had to get tested to take it, cause you have to have an aptitude. So, I took the test in fourth year, and studied through half of fourth, into fifth, and sixth year to learn how to shape shift. It's a Native American technique though, and Native American magic rarely makes provisions for clothing."

Sirius, on his side of the tree, seemed to think that through. "How is this shifting different than being an Animagus? Animaguses keep their clothes."

Evy was almost speechless. She never would have thought that Sirius would actually be interested. Of course, Sirius, she remembered, had always been an intelligent one, and Transfiguration had been one of his favorite classes.

"For one thing, it is America, so they have to do thing's kind of backward. For another, the Native American method actually has more options. As a shape shifter, rather than an Animagus, I'm not restricted to one form. I can take any form I want from mouse to an elephant, I could do anything. Granted, some forms are harder than others…" There was a pause. "Can I have my clothes back?"

There came a laugh, and he said, "There're around the tree. My back is turned."

Evy waited before peeking around the tree, spying her clothes in a pile. She looked up, and saw Sirius's broad back. She sighed in relief. She had been genuinely concerned that Sirius had just told her he had turned in hopes of catching of glance at Evy in her birthday suit.

He hadn't been that immature though, and Evy was able to reach down and grab her clothes. Her skin was pebbled with goose bumps, and fabric felt weird as with was pulled over her skin. The dressing process was difficult as the chill was in fact actually getting to Evy's motor functions. Her fingers refused to hook her bra behind her back, and stumbled over the buttons of blouse. Finally, however, she managed to drag on the majority of her clothing on.

Evy slid out from around the tree, and sat against it, making an attempt to pull on her knee socks. She couldn't help but grin up at Sirius. He was still standing, waiting. He wasn't even tapping his foot impatiently. _I guess he's not actually so horrible. It's not like he's trying to peep on me or anything._ She thought to herself.

"I'm dressed, Sirius." _Well, that came out easier that I thought. _

The young man turned around, running his hand through his hair. He clearly had no clue what to say.

And neither did Evy. She couldn't help the blood that stained her cheeks red, but after a moment of studying Sirius, she had to grin.

"So, you going to tell all your buddies about this?" She asked. It was a legitimate question, and one that she herself wasn't sure about.

"Well, it is illegal to be an unregistered Animagus." He said, raising an eyebrow at her. Evy was at a bit of a loss. She really had no way to read Sirius and his thoughts.

Also, her own brain was running a bit haywire. To say it was confused was probably an understatement. She had been operating under the assumption that Sirius was still an annoying git who wanted nothing more that fun and the admiration of twits, but, well, it was hard to think that anymore. After all, he had given her back her clothing with no real fuss, and hadn't really done anything to make her angry, or even perturbed.

"It's a good thing I don't qualify as an Animagus, then, doesn't it?"

She was a bit surprised when he chuckled. "I guess it is." He frowned, and glanced up at the sky. "Well, I think it's about time for dinner, and I'm starved. Think it's time to head up?"

Evy laughed under her breath. She had managed to pull on her shoes. She pulled herself to her feet, and, doing so, dragged on her robes. "All right, food sounds good. I had a nice run, so food is definitely good."

"A nice run?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at her as they fell into step together.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "That's why I shifted in the first place. I like to go for runs, but only in animal form. I'm not much for running in human form."

Again, Sirius laughed. It was a rich laugh, deep in his chest, and completely unabashed. For some reason, Evy realized she liked it. "Well," he said, "If you're ever caught without proper attire, just come to me, I'll give you a hand."

Evy looked up at Sirius, and she knew her eyes were wide as coffee saucers. _Did he really just say that? Woah…. This is a really odd night…_

And then, Sirius opened his mouth again. "Oh, and just let me know when you want to give a private demonstration of this whole shape shifting thing." And he waggled his eyebrows.

"Oh Black, so close." Evy muttered, shaking her head as she walked ahead of the laughing young man.

**A/N: So, notes on this chapter….this was really not easy to right, cause I had to completely overhaul and idea, and it took me a while to clear up what I was going to do after this. See, I had this grandiose plan about Evy storming off, but then I realized that the stuff I was writing off didn't support that. Then, I realized that I needed to have Sirius and Evy start getting along, at least as friends, at some point, cause this isn't going to be one of those stories where they hate each other, hate each other, hate each other, then, suddenly, love each other. Don't worry, they'll still be snarky towards each other, cause they aren't friends yet, but either way, what I was writing before wasn't what I wanted. So, I changed it. The above is the result. Tell me what you think.**

**Oh by the way, the next update won't be for an entire week. I have school this week, but break starts Friday. Wish me luck guys! I'll need it so that I don't kill all those stupid people….**

**R**

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**V PLEASE**

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	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I am not proud…. As in, I'm very sorry that it took me this ridiculously long to update, and even now, that I'm updating, I don't really like WHAT I'm updating with. I might rewrite it. Well, I'll make that decision based on what ya'll think. (Excuse the ya'll, it happens to be a very useful word)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing published. Well, not true actually, I do have a couple poems published in my school's literary magazine, but whatever, it's not Harry Potter or anything…**

Evy sighed gratefully as she slid onto the bench. The walk up to the castle had been filled with Sirius's laughter and jokes getting cruder and cruder as his ability to mix creativity and subtlety waned. At the Gryffindor table, she was given a much needed respite, as Sirius went to sit next to James, who was sitting next to Lily. Evy sat next to Lily, putting two people in between the bane of her existence and herself. Since the dinner dishes had already appeared (apparently, a bit more time had passed during her run and that whole thing with Sirius than she had originally thought), Evy made herself busy by grabbing spoonfuls of whatever was there.

Anyone interested in such things would have noticed that her plateful consisted of things like mashed potatoes and simmered carrots. Her cheeks and jaw ached a bit. Probably due to the switching from the warmth of the United States East Coast summer to southern Wales autumn, she thought to herself. _Ugh, sinuses…_

If Evy were being truthful, of course, she would have to admit that trying not to smile for ten straight minutes might also be a contribution.

Then Loey slipped into the place across from Evy. "Hey, Evs, since the Quidditch season will be picking up soon, you want to come down to the Pitch and show me some of those things you were talking about last night?"

Evy blinked, reaching out to the gravy boat and drizzling some of the thick brown liquid over the potatoes, and adding turkey beside it. What was Loey on about? "Oh right, the brooms." Evy nodded, remembering the night before," Sure, after dinner though. I'm starved!" To illustrate, she dug into her gravy-laden potatoes.

Loey laughed. "I remember you used to have the biggest appetite."

Evy glanced up to observe Loey's own plate, piled high with a bit of everything from the table. "Oh really, and the fact that you have twice as much on your plate, and if I remember correctly, will probably go back for seconds means nothing?" Evy punctuated her point by shoving her potato laden fork at Loey, then reversing the fork's course to take it back to her mouth.

Lily looked over at the two of them. "You know, four years later, or however many it's been, and you two are still snipping at each other over the same things you did then."

Evy looked at the red head with an offended expression, her eyes widened in a fantastically connived innocence, said, "But Lily, four years ago, we were arguing about who could eat more. Now, we're arguing about who actually eats more. Totally different."

Lily laughed. "Oh yes, I see the vast difference. Quite amazing really, how those two topics could be similar at all. It's really quite beyond me."

"Exactly so, Lily, darling." Evy said, nodding with an air of finality, turning back to her food, fighting to keep a straight face.

She looked up to catch Loey's eye. Both of the girls burst into gales of laughter. It felt just like old times.

And then James Potter voice came into the picture.

"So, Evelyn, what was it like in America?"

Evy blinked, and took a deep breath. She looked up and met Loey's eyes. Loey met her gaze with an assessing one of her own. Loey knew the inner conflict unfurling inside Evy's brain. Accept James? Or don't accept James? Evy had already dealt with Sirius, and found that he was actually not too horrible, if crude, and annoying, and stubborn, and curious... After all, he had given her back her clothing, and sounded as if her were indeed interested in what she had to say, unlike the completely brainless womanizing idiot she had always thought he would have become.

Perhaps, she should see how much James would surprise her. After all, he had won over Lily, not an easy thing to do, when she had despised him as a twelve-year-old. That sort of thing rarely died.

So, it was resolved.

Evy took a deep breath and leaned around Lily. "James Potter, if I'm to accept the fact that you're not the arrogant prick you were when I left this school, you must really learn to call me Evy, cause I really don't particularly care for Evelyn. If you continue to use it, I might be forced to sneak into your dorm and paper the walls of your room with fan girl posters of the Beach Boys."

James spluttered and dropped his fork, taken utterly by surprise. He stared at Evy around Lily, and, after a moment's inner consideration, James grinned. "Evy it is." Evy was a bit surprised that he didn't ask about the Beach Boys, but, apparently, he knew things….

"You were going to tell us about America, Evy?" Lily broke in.

"Oh right." Evy crammed a forkful of potatoes in her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and said, "Well, it was different. There are a lot more Wizarding schools in the U.S., cause there are a lot more people, and the country's so much bigger. It's not that there are lot more wizards in general, just that everyone's really spread out. Salem is only one of the schools, just the most publicized. You know, the witch trials and all that. I went to Martha Washington Prep and Academy in Virginia. For the most part, most of the students were from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and a few from North Carolina. Most of those went to the Carolina Institute, though."

"It was a good school and all that, but the food was terrible. Nothing like this." To illustrate her point, she took another bite.

"What was it like living with all those Americans?" Came from Loey.

"Not that different from here, actually, just different slang." Evy shrugged, continuing to eat.

"Well that's boring," Loey said.

Just then, McGonagall appeared behind Evy's shoulder. "Miss White, your class schedule is complete. If you have any questions, come see me," she said, passing a piece if of parchment to Evy.

"Thanks Mick – Gonagall," Evy covered herself before she accidentally blurted out her nickname for the young Professor.

"Professor, Miss White. Let's not forget manners," McGonagall frowned down at Evy, a reproving look in her eye.

"Of course, Professor. See you tomorrow," Evy flashed her brightest, most innocent grin.

When the Transfiguration professor moved off to, presumably, her own supper, Evy glanced back to where Loey was trying not to laugh. Lily was somewhat less than amused. "Don't forget to respect the teachers, Ev."

"Oh calm down, Lily. No one was ever hurt by forgetting a title or two," Evy scoffed.

James took the lull in conversation to lean again around Lily and ask, "Evy, have you become a Quidditch played over the last few years, by any chance? I believe there's a chaser position open."

Loey rolled her eyes. "Merlin, James, you know you're not supposed to have anything to do with Quidditch anymore."

Clearly, this was a common exchange on both their parts, as James just returned the eye roll and continued, "I can't remember if you had any part in the team or anything in second year."

Evy laughed again. It was good to be with these people again. Sure, she had had plenty of friends at MWP, but they hadn't been like this. It hadn't been worse or anything, just different. Her friends in America had been of a different, slightly rougher sort. There was no pure blood high society in America. Well, there was high society, but it wasn't about being pure blooded. Americans, both historically and magically speaking, were mongrels. There were hardly any pure families left, and most of them had muggle born family secrets to hide.

It was simply a different mood here at Hogwarts, a different tone and over all mind set.

"I'm not that much of a Quidditch player, James, sorry. I like flying brooms and such, but I'm not really a team player." Evy shrugged. "I do love the game though!" She reassured James, who's face had started developing a rather panicked look. "American's don't play it that much, seeing as it's pretty conspicuous."

James and Sirius looked appalled. "How can they not play Quidditch?" they asked nearly simultaneously.

Evy, after giving them both a rather amused look, said, "Cause it's hard to hide. They still use brooms and all that, though, they just race and stuff. And they have a couple other sports. Just different ones."

"That is so weird." Loey said from across the table, her face a mask of flabbergasted shock.

"There's still pro games, though. My dad and I would go to them all the time."

That sparked a heated debate about which teams were better and which players had the most potential with all except Lily taking part. Lily never had been much of a Quidditch person, and being in a relationship with a Quidditch freak had clearly changed nothing.

Eventually, the dishes ran empty and Loey said, "Come on, Evy, it's about time to go see those brooms. Otherwise we won't have time to actually check anything out."

Lily's head snapped up. "Loey, don't you have a transfiguration essay to do?"

"Of course, but I'll do it later. We're just going down to the pitch for a bit." Loey rolled her eyes. "Relax Lil, it's only first day."

Lily huffed. "That's what you said last year, and that Charms essay never did get done."

Loey laughed. "Trust you to remember. Come on Evy. See you in a bit guys!"

Loey led Evy out of the Great Hall. "Lily's always so particular about deadlines. I don't understand how she doesn't keel over from a stroke 'cause of the stress she puts herself under with all that worrying."

"At least that hasn't changed," Evy chortled.

Loey looked back at Evy. "You know, not much really has. I mean, yeah, sure, Lily is with James and we all sit with the Marauders, but really, we're all the same people."

Evy felt her eyebrows rising. "I know that, Loe, it's just that some things are surprising. I'm sure James isn't the git he was and, yes, I suppose Sirius isn't either, but those things are things that I'll have to get used to, at least so some degree. I mean really Loey, it's not like nothing's changed. You don't notice it because you've been here while it was changing."

Loey sighed. "I suppose you have a point. So did you ever meet any movie stars in America?"

Evy couldn't help it. She laughed and laughed, her voice probably carrying in the chill evening air.

The pair finally made it to the broom shed, where Evy's collection of brooms had been stashed by the ever-helpful house elves. The shed's walls were lined with wooden hooks, and the brooms rested vertically through two each. There were dozens of brooms in that shed, some in better shape than others. Most of the brooms were school brooms and, in general, on the lower end of quality. The student owned brooms were fewer, and marked by a small plaque just below the broom with the student's name.

Loey whistled when Evy led her over to one of the far walls. There were seven brooms in all with Evy's plaque beneath them. Only one was obviously new, with a brand name and year etched on the shy, well cared for handle. It wasn't one that Loey recognized.

"Lightning Bolt?"

"Yeah, it's an American brand. Found it just last year. They're an up and coming maker, haven't really gotten big yet. This model's fast, though. Not sure how it is compared to that new Nimbus. Do you have one?"

"No, I've got a Clean Sweep. Figured that it's a more solid line, more well established. I believe Sirius has a Nimbus, though. He was telling me about it on the train before he got a bit distracted."

"I bet he did." Evy had grabbed two brooms from her pile, tossing one to Loey. "Here, that's an old Clean Sweep 2. Try it out?"

"Sure. It won't toss me off, will it?"

"Shouldn't, though I've found a bit more personality in it than any of the newer brooms, so watch out." Evy chuckled a bit. She just hoped that the broom would behave today.

Loey took the broom up into the air, looping lazily through the air before bending over the handle and putting on a burst of speed. She circled back, coming back to land lightly in the grass a few yards from Evy.

Her brow was furrowed. "This handles better than my 5, what'd you do to it?"

Evy grinned. "Take a good look at the handle. It's not just pine anymore. There's some yew in that handle, which is lighter and holds the magic better, anyway."

Loey examined the handle, which, indeed, was no longer solely pine. It had pieces of it carved out, and replaced with pieces of yew.

"How'd you do it? Couldn't have been easy, handle's not that thick." Loey's voice was full of admiration.

Evy smirked. "It took a lot of practice, more than you'd sit for. American's do a lot of this sort of thing, and we were taught woodcarving at school. I actually had a friend help me with the first broom I tried this on. He's a whiz at it; I'm only average."

Loey snorted. "I'm sure. So that's all you did to it? Just refurbed the handle? That's all that made it so good?"

Evy offered her other broom. "That's all that one needed, plus a newer flight tonic. It was in decent shape when I found it. Try this one. It's a Timberblast."

Loey guffawed. "Timberblast? Those things are crappy as all get out. You expect me to ride this thing? It could kill me!"

"Just try it!" Evy encouraged, grinning.

Loey climbed on, kicking off, clearly expecting to be bucked off or the broom to explode. Her face was a sight to see when the broom shot up straight as a well-shot arrow with a speed even more impressive than the Clean Sweep's.

Loey came back quickly, landing with a thump. "No way."

Evy couldn't hold back the laughter of triumph. "It took me three years to fix that thing up. It shouldn't even qualify as a Timberblast with all that I've done to it."

Loey gaped. "If you can do this, you're a genius!"

"Not really," she said with a grin.

"That Clean Sweep was one thing, but this! You've got to help with some of the school brooms that the team uses. If you can do this with a Timberblast!" Loey practically dissolved into ramblings of what could be done with improved brooms all around.

"What can she do with a Timberblast?" Sirius walked up from behind Evy, his eyebrow quirked at the blithering Loey.

Loey's face broke into a grin of rather epic proportions. "Check out this broom."

Loey tossed it at him, and Sirius grabbed it from the air. He studied it. "Are you sure this is a Timberblast? I've ridden one before, and this is much too well proportioned to be one."

Evy smirked. "I've done a few things to it."

Sirius hmmed a bit, and gave her a suspicious glance. "I'll try it in a minute. Loey, James was looking for you."

Loey rolled her eyes. "Probably something else about Quidditch. That boy just can't accept that he isn't on the team anymore." She shook her head. "I'll see you guys later."

She walked off and Evy turned to see Sirius studying the broom's tail. "What'd you do to it," he asked.

Evy considered him. She wasn't actually sure where she stood with the tall young man, but, well, she could talk for days about her brooms, and to anyone.

"Well, the twigs are just common broom twigs. I replaced the original ones of course. You have to do that from time to time with any broom, and this one's about ten years old. It's the handle that I did the most work to, I suppose."

"How'd you start?" He queried. "I"ve never seen work like this, and my father was a broom collector."

Evy raised an eyebrow here. "Really? You're family's about as pure as can be. I would have thought they would frown on brooms."

"My mother does, but she had to give my father at least some sort of pleasure." There was a lot of bitterness in that voice, but also a healthy dose of irony and humor. "So was all this by hand?"

"Hand and wand, anyway. I did most of it myself. I had to get a bit of help in the beginning, but I've done enough work since then that it's probably all mine." She shrugged. She wasn't going to press for more information even if, truth to tell, she was more than a bit curious. Evy was nothing if not curious, even if she didn't actually care.

Not that she didn't. Sirius Black wasn't a friend yet, and there was a lot that she didn't trust about him, but since their encounter earlier that day, she was willing to give him a shot at being a friend.

It was then that one of the funniest things ever occurred to her, and she erupted in gales of laughter.

Sirius looked up at her, surprise raising both his eyebrows. "What?"

"Oh nothing," she said after dragging herself under control. "I was just thinking about the fact that I know that some girls would kill to be where I am now."

Sirius was conceited enough to know what she meant. "Indeed they would," he smirked, then allowed his expression to turn slightly more serious, "but they wouldn't be here for nearly as interesting a reason."

Evy couldn't help the heat in her cheeks, and was thankful for the darkness taking over the sky. That, and her always facetious brain. "Are you telling me that you think making out is less interesting than broomsticks?"

"Well, there are some broomsticks more interesting than these, if you'd like to take a ride on them. Would that do for an answer?" Evy could see his teeth flash with that smirk.

"Thanks, Black, but the one you're holding right now is all I'm interested in." Evy was no stranger to this sort of banter, and always found it fun. Well, not always. Some people should never be allowed to make sexual innuendos.

"Too bad." He sounded genuinely disappointed.

"You never answered my question, Black. Which is more interesting, making out or Quidditch?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "How serious of an answer do you want?"

"The serious with an 'O'."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. And to think she had jumped to 'Sirius' pun before he had!

"Well, it depends."

Evy waited, wondering if she really wanted the question answered. Apparently, she did. "And?"

"And?"

"Yeah. And. You didn't finish your answer sufficiently."

Sirius laughed. "Well, truth be told, it's been a while since I found a girl who was interesting enough to make snogging more fun than flying." Evy was surprised to realize that his tone was both serious and honest.

She blinked. "Interesting."

"Like this conversation." Loey walked back into the circle off what light there was. "We better head back up to the castle, you two. James is apparently planning a little party to celebrate first night back." She took Evy's broom back from Sirius, storing it back in the shed. "We'll be discussing this more tomorrow, Evy. Fair warning."

Evy and Sirius laughed as Loey draped her arms across their shoulders and propelled them both up the hill to the castle.

**A/N: Well, I'm not gonna lie, this story is not what I thought it would be. Oh well, I have time to write others if I so choose. And if I get this one done. We'll see. **

**So, thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, and I really hope that you all review again!**

**And remember my pet peeves: 1. Alerting without reviewing 2. Favoriting without reviewing 3. Just putting "Update soon." **

**Though I'll appreciate everything, of course. **

**Till next time, (may it be sooner than the last)**

**Ink**


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